Anand, Mulk Raj (1905-2004), was an Indian novelist, critic, and art historian who wrote in English. His realistic novels, such as The Coolie (1936) and the trilogy of The Village (1939), Across the Black Waters (1942), and The Sword and the Sickle (1942), examine the problems of poverty in India. They sympathetically portray lower-caste (class) life in the Punjab during India's transition from an ancient orthodox society to a modern democracy. Anand's fiction reflects his hatred of injustice, his skepticism toward religion, and his compassion for the unfortunate.